Author's Note: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.
Ch.21 Agrabah
The next world we landed in was one I had not seen before, and swiftly grew to dislike. "Yeesh, it's hot out here!" Donald complained, and I agreed. We had landed in the middle of a vast desert with sweeping dunes, and there was no civilization in sight, no matter which direction we turned. And like all deserts, it was the one thing I did not like: unbearable hot. I cast a tiny Blizzard spell and sighed in relief, feeling the ice crystals form over my skin before melting into cool, refreshing water. "Gawrsh, where do you think we are?" Goofy wondered, fanning himself with his hat. "I don;t know, but I hope we find a place with shade soon!" Sora said, also getting hot under the collar. Literally.
Suddenly Donald gasped, and pointed. "Look! An oasis!" he called, and ran forward. We turned to see where he had pointed, but there was nothing but sand. "What are you talking about? There's no oasis," I said. Then Sora gasped as well, and smiled hugely. "I see it too! Wait up!" he said, and chased after Donald. Goofy and I stood there, confused, until they both dove forward and onto the ground, sighing in relief. "Uh-oh. They're seeing things," Goofy said worriedly. I just rolled my eyes decided to let them have fun, at least for a few minutes. Sora turned over and his back and pedaled through the "water" while Donald stuck his staff into it and cast Fire. The end glowed red and he exhaled, laying back in what I would imagine was a newly made hot tub.
"Think we should snap them out of it?" Goofy asked. I was about to conceded when they both suddenly help up handfuls of sand, and said "Fresh water!" and dumped it into their mouths. My eyes widened, and so did theirs as they realized it wasn't water. "Yuck!" Donald yelled, spitting the sand out of his mouth while Sora did the same. I could help it, and started laughing. They both looked at me as I fell to my knees, beating a fit against the ground. Goofy chuckled right beside me, and after a moment so did Donald and Sora. We all were like that for a few minutes, laughing together at the hilarity of the situation. Then Sora managed to compose himself slightly, and pointed. "Hey, there's a city! And it's not a mirage this time!" he said.
All three of us looked, and indeed saw a large Arabian city that hid been previously hidden by the sand-filled winds. "Well, guess we know where we're going!" I said, and they nodded. Without another word, we set off for the city.
When we arrived the four of us were surprised by the lack of guards, as this city appeared to have a giant palace in its center. "Where could they have gone?" Donald asked. "The stores are empty too. And all of the houses are boarded up," Sora added. I looked around, also seeing nobody. Besides the rushing wind and sand, the whole place was a ghost town. Then suddenly several Heartless appeared before us, all of them brandishing swords. "There's your answer!" I said, and summoned Stormfell. The Heartless were composed of Shadows, Bandits and Aerial Soldiers, forming about a whopping sixteen in total. "Spread out!" Goofy advised, and blocked a sword slash from one of the Bandits.
We took his advice and moved to different parts of the area, and I was surrounded by a total of four Bandits. They slashed at me as one I dropped to the ground, pressing my body against it and barely avoiding the attack. Then I pressed my hands against the ground and jumped up, swinging my legs forward and double-kicking one of them in the stomach. It fell back and for a second I was horizontal in the air, and I changed the direction of my body so that I slashed my Keyblade in a circle. All of the Bandits fell back with cuts across their chest, and I decided to give them a taste of my magic. "Feel my Tornado!" I said, and cast that spell. A small twister appeared in front of me, and with my will I moved it towards the Bandits.
One by one they were sucked into the vortex, and they were tossed around in a circle as I moved it towards the other Heartless. Sora had cast Aero on himself, incredibly creating a shield of wind around him that sent the Shadows back. One lowered against the ground and moved for him, but the moment it surfaced it was sucked into my Tornado. The spell faded and threw all of the Heartless in random directions, some slamming against walls and bursting into Shadows. "Come on!" Sora said, and he jumped up to attack an Aerial Soldier. The wind around him knocked it off-balance, giving Sora the perfect chance to stab it in the chest. Which he did. Donald and Goofy each dispatched a Heartless, leaving only ten left.
With nearly half of their number gone, the remaining Heartless turned and ran for the desert, and Donald began chasing after them. But I stopped, and smiled as an idea came to mind. I waited until I sense that they had reached the desert, and stabbed my Keyblade into the ground. "Now, Quake!" I said, and sent the energy of the spell out to where thy had regrouped. Although I couldn't see it, I could feel the ground beneath the Heartless erupt and a ten were impaled on steel-hard rocks, and that many hearts rose into the sky above the desert. "And that's how to do it," I said, pulling Stormfell back out and dismissing it. "Gawrsh, if there are this many Heartless around, then I wonder of any of the townspeople survived," Goofy pondered.
Nothing more needed to be said, and we instantly began searching the city for any survivors. We searched around, in and on top of multiple shops and houses, but they all appeared to be empty. It wasn't until we entered an side alley that I felt a presence behind a set of boxes. "Hey, come out. We don't mean any trouble," I said. The boxes shifted, and a young woman with caramel skin. long black hair, wearing a short top and baggy pants, both of which were light blue, rose up. "Who's there? Hello?" she asked, looking at us with brown, suspicion-filled eyes. "There's no need to worry; we're not here to cause trouble," I said. She calmed down, and said "My name is Jasmine. My father is the sultan of Agrabah."
My eye widened and I quickly bowed. "Forgive us for our rudeness, Your Majesty," I said, silently cast a an Aero spell to blast Sora, Donald and Goofy's backs over as well. "There's no need to be so formal; my father is no longer even the ruler now. He was deposed by Jafar, who now controls the city. Managing to stand straight again, Goofy asked "Jafar?" "You haven't heard of him? He's the royal vizier. He gained evil powers and seized Agrabah. He's desperately searching for something- something he calls the 'Keyhole'. Jafar caught me trying to escape, but he helped me," she explained. My eyes, if it was possible, widened further at the mention of the Keyhole, and I asked "Do you know where the Keyholes is?" At the exact same moment Sora asked "Who helped you?"
"I don't know here they Keyhole is, to be honest. And as for your second question: we were hiding nearby, but he left awhile ago to take care of something... Oh, I hope Aladdin is all right," Jasmine said sadly. I was about to console, when suddenly my senses picked up a major source of darkness coming our way. And to prove my point, a voice above us said "Aladdin? Where might I find this street rat?" We turned to see a tall, thin man with a goatee, royal robes and snake-headed staff above us. "I'll make the guess that you're Jafar," I said. "Correct. Jasmine, allow me to find you more suitable company, my dear princess. These little rats won't do, you see," Jafar said, smiling evilly. "Jasmine, run!" Sora said, and she did as he said.
We all readied our weapons, and Jafar's smile grew even more devious. "Ah, the ones who hold the key," he remarked, and waved his hand. A trio of Bandits appeared above the wall on either side of us, and Jafar walked away. "Hey! Get back here!" I said, and I ran forward. But the Bandits all jumped down and rolled forward, forcing me to move back to avoid getting sliced. "Curse you... out of my way!" I said, and cast Thundaga. Bolts of lightning burst down from air above and hit the three of them, causing the Heartless to jerk and spasm as they were electrocuted. Goofy blocked a strike with his shield and shoved forward, causing the Bandit to teeter on one foot. Then Donald cast Blizzard and ensure that it stayed that way.
Sora parried a strike from two separate Bandits and kicked a Shadows in the face, also casting Fire and scorching it to cinders. The Bandits reared back and both swung at him with a overhead blows, forcing him to block and counter. He slash horizontally against the stomach of one before stabbing the other in the chest, killing them both in rapid succession. The three that I had hit with Thundaga were staggering about, dazed by my attack. I decided to take pity and them and used Blitz, dealing three jumping strikes that put an end to them. "Come on, let's go," Sora said, and we agreed. We searched through the town for Jasmine, knowing that she was both in danger and could have about the Keyhole.
Rather than find her though, we did find a house that was in bad need of repair, with a large hole in the wall that gave a view of the palace. And inside, trapped underneath a drawer was- I raised my eyebrows. "A magic carpet?" I asked aloud. "Awesome!" Sora said, and hurriedly pushed the drawer to the side, freeing it. I wasn't so sure, but my worry cleared when it gave a thankful salute and flew away. "It flew of towards the desert," Donald noted. "Should we follow it?" Goofy asked. They looked at Sora, who in turn looked at me. Realizing that I had been put on the spot, I shrugged and said "The worst thing it can be is a trap, and if it is we can get out of it."
Agreeing, we left the house and walked out of the gates of the city, seeing the Carpet standing there in front of us. "You wants us to come along?" Sora asked, to which it nodded as best as a carpet could. "All aboard!" Goofy said, and the carpet laid itself out flat enough for us to sit on. Once we were all seated it rose into the air and flew off, traveling through the air at breakneck speed. Gradually the clouds overhead began to turn purple, as the sand darkened along with them. Suddenly the carpet stopped and landed, and ahead was a pit of quicksand... with someone sinking! "Oh no!" I said, and leaped off. Before I could get to the person though, more Heartless appeared to block my way. "I've just about had it with you!" I said, and drew my Keyblade to fight the Heartless once more.
The Arabian adventure has begun, with Aladdin to soon join the group! Can they find Jasmine and save her in time? Or will they be undone by the very thing Al possesses?
Please review! If you flame me Liam Neeson will look for you, he will find you, and he will kill you. (I'm just kidding... or am I?)